Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-04-23

%corduroycd at every step. The march
through Georgia had been . great and
even frolicsome raid. The march
through South Carolina had been a
stubborn wrestle with tho elements OF
nature. the rains from above and the
waters beneath breasting with all their
potency the advance of the Federal
army. But the power Of $4,000 men,
concentrated to obey the inflexible
purpose of one, ovcrcame every obs
tacle nature counld intrrpose, and won
IA physical triumph that remains the
wonder Of military achievements.
Or the 18th of February. Columbia,
the capital of South Carolina, was
occupied, not without some fighting
Sherman and Howard, with their stats,
were the first to enter the city. Cotton,
furniture, merchandise and stores of
various kinds were scattered in every
direction. Sherman ordered that ar
senals, foundries, machine shops and
public Workshop should be de-
stroycd, but that all other
buildings and all private property
should be respected. Toward night a
gale OF wind commenced to blow.
Drunken soldiers, camp-followers and
convicts roamed through the streets,
and soon a general coafiagration was
started that resulted in reducing Col
umbia to ashes.
Or course General Sherman was 40
cused OF Intentionally causing the city
to be burned. but he was, il fact, sim
cerely grieved by the disaster, and did
what he could to give relief to the citi-
zens. He gave them provisions to sup
ply their immediit ate wants and placed
a large herd of cattle at the disposal of
the city authorities. On the 21st Of
February the army was gain fairly on
It's march for Goldsboroueh, N. c., and
the CONSERVATION in Richmond was
supreme. Not until the 23d of Febru-
airy did Davis at last consent to the re-
instatement of General Joseph john
ston and give him command of the
forces opposing Shern But it was
all too late, even for tn. great ability
of that general. All thc odds and ends
OF garrison abandoned, the remnants
of Hoods army and tho forces col
lected by nardee and Beaure-
gard were placed ut his
disposal but these numbered
out little more than 80, 900 men. Mean.
time General Schofield, with the TWEEN
ty-third corps. had been brought round
from Tennessee by way OF Baltimore 70
the North Carolina coast, and was now
operating toward Go~ldsborough from
the direction of Newbern, and as soon
as he and Sherman could join hands
the latter would have y new base of
supplies on the seacoast. Throughout
this march, rs in Georgia, he supported
his army entirely on the country.
The news of the assignment of Gen.
raj Johnston to the command OF all the
confederate forces in the Carolinas was
received by Sherman's army as a note
of warning to DE prepared for more
stubborn and well-planned resistance
10 their progress. Johnston, in fact,
did everything that ability, courage,
and activity could do, but the
knell of the c~onfederacy was
striking. AT ~Averysboro Hardee made
a stand on the 10th of March
where he was intrenched between a
river and a swamp, put after a brilliant
contest he wGs compelled to flee. Then
Johnston turned and struck a fierce
blow at Schofield advancing from New
bern; then, turning again, he attempted
to strike one of Slocum's two corps az
it marched by the flank in front of Ben
touville. Sherman had bsen obliged to
widen the line of his march in order to
feed his men, and his forces were not
within supporting distance. Savagely
did Johnston throw himself with about
twenty thousand men on the Fourteenth
Army Corps as it came toward Ben
.tonville. SlOcum was with it, and that
splendid body of fighting men most
CALAMITY withstood tho assault. From
2 O'Clock until dark of the 10th Of
March the battle ragged, but Johnston
was at last obliged to fall back. The
next day Sherman brought up another
corps, and in the night Johnston re-
treated. This was the most serious
battle that had yet occurred since leav-
ing Atlanta. The federal losses in
these engagements amounted to about
sixteen hundred in killed. wounded and
missing. On the 23d of March Sher-
mans army at last reached Goldsbor-
ough and there united with Schotield,
when the great march may be said TO
end.
If it be the highest praise of genius
that it produces magnificent results 1T
"A trifling cost Sherman we'll deserves
that praise. 1t is doubtful whether the
long history Of war affords an example
of such splendid military achievements
gained at SO slight a cost OF life.
WASHINGTON.